When the family comes to town
by TheAwkwardChild16
Summary: It's the holiday season and the Dovahkiin is going to celebrate it with very little worries since the civil war is over and Alduin's been defeated and vampires have stopped trying to kill the sun. Unfortunately, his Altmer father and his Nord mother decide to visit as well...and no one really sees eye to eye. On top of that, the Daedric Princes are watching... First fan fic...
1. Chapter 1

Aren had never really had a normal life, even before he'd discovered he was the dovahkiin. First off, he was half nord and half high elf which would make saying he was a rare breed an understatement. Secondly, his parents lived in two different parts of Tamriel since they had a little falling out during the great war. His mother, being the fierce nord that she was, had taken up resistance against the oh so mighty Aldemeri Dominion while his high elf father had remained loyal to his people. Aren had been barely one at the time and was thus given, without his father knowing, to his loving Aunt and Uncle in Bruma. After the war, things became a bit strained since both his parents wanted him and neither would compromise. The fighting between them in the little hut was so loud it woke the baby next door. It ended when the captain of the guard settled the matter just to keep the piece. His mother would have him one half of the year while his father would have him the other half.

Thus, the boy spent the next eighteen years being sent from Bruma to Summerset Isle and back again. Aren really didn't think anything of it when he was younger, like everything when you're young, it was simple; he spent the colder months with his mother where he learned how to be a true nord warrior and then the warm months with his father so he could be educated in the proper fashion. When he turned thirteen, though, the clashing ideals came about and he suddenly realized why mommy and daddy weren't living near each other. His mother told him that nords were high up on the bipedal food chain and had favor with the nine devines. The stereotypical high elf that was his father, on the other hand, insisted that anyone with elven blood was superior to the human or beast races that roamed Tamriel, in the eyes of the eight. He wound up just listening to his crazy grandpa after coming back to Bruma complaining of a headache; "Everyone's equal in the eyes on the divines, halfling. As for this Talos stuff, if it's not causing you harm, let it be. World would be a much nicer place if people could choose what flavor mead they drink without starting a war about it."

When Aren reached his thirtieth winter, he decided to go to Skyrim to see why his mother was so proud of the damned frozen piece of land. Along the way he got caught in an Imperial ambush along with a group of rowdy nords and a guy with a horse. The next thing he knew he was on the headsman's block because some bitchy red guard woman sent him there, despite not having anything to do with the rebellion. He wasn't about to run though, the idiot with the horse had proven you get shot if you run. Then, as if the divines themselves just wanted to make his day Mehrunes Dagon's plane of Oblivion, a dragon attacked. A dragon hasn't been seen in Tamriel in 300 years. So off he went escaping that predicament with a nord by the name of Ralof and somehow signing on with the rebellion along the way. After that he retrieved some stone from a cave filled with undead while trying to help a merchant retrieve some did everything have to do with dragons in this damned place?

He discovered he was dragonborn when he'd killed when of the scaly bastards just to help out the Jarl. The thing's soul just went into him with what he assumed was some spiritual nord voodoo that apparently the gods gave you. Neat. He discovered he could use a thu'um without practice and that his destiny was to stop the end of the world. No pressure, Aren. After a series of a few tasks he met the blades whom his father had told him were dead. Then he broke into the Dominion's embassy, where luckily no one recognized him despite having seen a few of them on Summerset, just to obtain information. Another few random tasks later he discovered the shout that brought dragons to the ground and a couple quests after that he rode a dragon to Sovengarde to defeat Alduin.

Everything settled down in Skyrim after he helped Ulfric win the civil war and now, three years later, he was living in Riften with his housecarl Iona, his loving wife Syglja, whose name he has yet to pronounce right despite the fact she was the one who stuck out in his mind after all his travels, and his son Halbjorn. He lived a relatively quiet life since most of the nords had just gone back to everyday life after everything was said and done. He didn't mind it in the least; who wanted a bunch of random idiots surrounding their home doing gods know what to get a glimpse of them? It was a nice life he had, until the eighteenth of Evening Star.

It was a week before New Life Festival and all the citizens of Riften were out preparing for the parties, the gift-giving, and the drinking that would ensue. Even that hagraven Gredla the Kind could be found buying presents for the orphans. The Thieve's Guild was as active as ever, with Brynjolf and Delvin caroling while Vex snuck through the houses stealing valuables. The Black-Briar's had retired to their lodge for the Festival, leaving everyone happy that they could have a drunk rant about them without having to worry about a visit from the Dark Brotherhood. The guards were decorating the town with ribbons and garland at the behest of the Jarl to make Riften seem a little more cheery.

Aren and his son were at Medesi's stand looking for a present for Syglja. Halbjorn kept pointing at the most gaudy bits in the case on the stand as his father held him, being only three he had an attraction to shiny things. "Red one, Papa!" He pointed to the flawless red ruby that had been shaped to a heart and left to dangle on a gold chain. Aren nodded at Medesi to see it.

The argonian pulled it out of the case with a smile on his scaled, green face. The pendant was a reasonable size and the chain wasn't too heavy. Aren asked, "How much?"

"630 gold, but since you saved my stand from that dragon's fire once I'll give you this beauty for 330; a fair price for the hero of Skyrim," Medesi said, trying to keep the necklace from Halbjorn's little fingers.

Aren took the coin purse out of his bag and counted out 630 gold, "No need to give me half price for doing what anyone in my position would have. Beautiful craftsmanship needs to be recognized fully anyway, right?"

"You're much too kind," Medesi said accepting the money. "Do you want this packaged?"

Aren nodded, "Please."

Medesi went to find a box for the necklace, leaving Aren and his son standing at the stall. "Hey Hal, did you finish your drawing for mama?"

"No, no more pencil," Halbjorn said, shaking his head.

Aren let out a fake gasp, "Why didn't you tell me? You were going to give it to her at the party next week. We're going to have to get you another pencil at The Pawned Prawn after this."

"Or I can give you one right now," Vex said, coming up behind them with a piece of charcoal in hand. "Accidently grabbed it when I had to do a grab and run because these idiots went off key."

She jerked her thumb at Brynjolf and Delvin who were both wearing red fancy suits, "It's not our fault we have no tenor. That one refused to help us, though."

Aren laughed, "Well, I look atrocious in red. It's so bad, people'd run at the sight of me."

"So you prefer confusing them by being an elf and wearing steel armor?" Brynjolf asked with a cocked eyebrow.

The dragonborn had gotten into the habit of wearing his armor wherever he went incase of dragons or bandits or assassins or vampires. Of course looking more high elf, people gave him strange looks wherever he went since his people bragged about their prowess in magic rather than with a sword. When he was a more active adventurer he had often worn his helmet so he just looked like a nord that was way too tall. The some of the Jarls he'd met had received quite a shock when he'd taken off his helmet to reveal gold skin and pointed ears.

Medesi, having finally finished wrapping the necklace, handed him a box with a string wrapping it up, "Here you go, have a happy New Life Festival."

Aren put the gift in his bag, noticing the three thieves' eyes light up, "If this goes missing from my position I'll personally gut all three of you. It's a present for Syglja who was nice enough to invite you all to our party."

"I picked it out!" Hal said proudly.

Vex inspected Medesi's case, "The heart necklace, hmm. Had my eye on that one for a while."

"It wasn't even the most expensive thing he had, why would you be looking at it?" Aren asked with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

And that was when all three men gasped, for Vex had just blushed, "A certain man was looking into getting me a present. Don't breathe a word of this or I'll make sure you never see another New Life Festival."

She huffed away while Brynjolf capitalized on the situation by singing "Vex has a boyfriend" and follow after her. Delvin, who had been silent for the most part, just shook his head, "Don't be surprised if Brynjolf doesn't show up or if Vex brings someone else along."

The old pickpocket followed after the other two, who were now chasing each other around the city like small children. Snow had begun to fall from the darkening sky making some of the market place clear out a bit. Halbjorn was desperately trying to catch on of the little flakes on his tongue, but hindered by the fact he couldn't get very far from his father's side. They made their way out of the market to go home and avoid the rush to the Bee and Barb that usually occurred around this time. Some of the guards nodded as he passed and wished him and his son a happy New Life Festival.

Honeyside was all lit up when they reached it with the curtains open to see the small tree they had placed inside as well as a rather exuberant dog named Vigilance attempting attempting to get the bone that had been placed on a branch as one of the many decorations. He opened the door to be greeted by the smell of his wife making horkar meat stew and sweet rolls. He put Halbjorn down, who immediately ran off to work on his drawing with Vex's stolen charcoal.

"Hello, love," Syglja greeted him as she came over, stomach bulging with their second child. "Did Hal behave himself at the marketplace?"

He hugged her and leaned over to give her a loving kiss, "Yes, he even helped me pick out a few things. Like this," He pulled out of his pack a baby frostbite spider in a cage which made his wife scream. He laughed, "Isn't this little guy cute? "We're going to name him Justice so Vigilance can have a sidekick on his many adventures."

"Sure it's cute now, but what happens when it's the size of the house? It'll eat the baby and Halbjorn for a snack!" She scolded him, noticing the huge grin on his face. "You're such a child sometimes! I want that thing right back where it came from!"

The little frostbite spider was staring up at her in complete fear, adorable fear. It wouldn't do any of that, not with the scary lady around. The golden man who captured him was nice to it as well. Why would it seek to do harm to them?

"Calm down, Vigilance will keep him in line," As if on cue, Vigilance came over and wagged his tail. "Won't you Vigilance?"

The dog barked happily and Syglja rolled her eyes, "I'm going to pray harder for a daughter."

He laughed, walking after her to the kitchen where the aroma was next to heavenly. Iona was at the table writing a letter to her darling Calder who'd captured her heart in one visit. He set the spider on the counter near some potatoes that had yet to be peeled which caused him to receive a glare from his wife. He let out a soft sigh and began to set the table before he got in any more trouble. The spider had scuttled to the side of it's cage and was now attempting to reach the piece of stray carrot that had been left there. Halbjorn's new bit of charcoal could be heard scratching a piece of parchment furiously which would only make his gift all the more sweeter when he gave it to his mother.

As Aren put the plates on the table, he noticed to letter addressed to him. "Um, when did these arrive?"  
"They came for you while you were out. I didn't recognize either of the handwritings and neither did Syg, so we guessed you would and wanted to wait for you to come home. Must have forgot about them. My apologies my thane," Iona said this without even looking up at him. "Do you think love at the end of a letter is too forward?"

Aren picked up his letters to examine the handwriting while disconnectedly saying, "Not if you truly have the feeling for that melancholy, mutton-chopped guy. I mean... oh gods!"

"Oh gods, what's oh gods? Are the letters from the thalmor?" Syglja asked, very worried. She'd never seen her husband go that pale before nor had she seen him shake like he was.

Aren trembled, "Semi, well if you count that my father is a Thalmor agent. If not then no, they're from my parents."  
Is something wrong? They wouldn't contact him unless something was terribly wrong. Maybe his dad had heard about his little break-in to the embassy. Maybe his mom heard about his dragonborn business. Maybe they were both gravely ill and were dying of some horrible disease like brain rot! He should have stayed in contact with them while he was here.

He felt two hands on his shoulders which made him breathe easier, "Perhaps you should open them before you get all worked up, love."

He let out a hefty sigh and nodded. Iona handed him the letter opener that had been on the table with the other mail. He read his father's letter:

_Dear son,_

_I've decided to come and spend New Life Festival with you in that wretched, snow-covered, barbarian land so I could introduce you to my betrothed. I expect us to be received in a manner that befits our kind. Hopefully, spending time in that wasteland hasn't awaken something barbaric in you from your mother's frightful lineage. I know you do me proud in staying true to your superior altmer heritage._

_Love,_

_Your Father- Teran'is_

Well, his father had just made him look bad in front of two nord women who could both handle a weapon. He can't come to his son's home during New Life Festival with a fiance to boot, the place will be crawling with nords and other people who generally hate high elves. Plus, he'd probably disown poor Aren for marrying a nord, backing the Stormcloaks,and being the savior from one of _their_ legends. Not good, not good, not good. He prayed to any aedra or daedra that'd listen to him for a snowstorm to delay his father at least a day. Unfortunately the only one listening was Sheogorath, who decided to send cheese to the dragonborn instead.

With a shaky hand, he opened up the letter from his mother and read:

_Dear Aren,_

_I've heard many rumors of you from refugees coming to Bruma. My son, the dragonborn, I couldn't be more proud! I'm coming up to the homeland to see you on the Festival of New Life, hope you keep the mead plentiful. I'm meeting up with a man I've been corresponding with in Windhelm who I've known since we were children. Please make sure there is room for us both, I don't like the Bee and Barb much._

_Love,_

_Your Mother Skadi_

He nearly collapsed on the ground, but his wife had a firm hold on his arm to steady him. She lead him out of the kitchen to his chair by the fireplace and sat him down, luckily she didn't see Halbjorn's drawing which had been abandoned while the boy went to find his trusty teddy bear. Aren buried his face in his hands and groaned. Both of them at the same time? Nothing good would come of that. Plus they were bringing romantic interests to a party he was throwing. Not that they knew about the party, but he couldn't just kick them both out if they came. This was a nightmare and Sheogorath only sent dovahkiin more cheese that was beginning to fill his basement.

Something soft worked it's way up between his arms and he looked to see it was Hal's teddy bear. His son was looking up at him with concerned eyes, "Be happy, Papa."

He scooped up his little boy in his arms and set him on his lap, "Thanks Hal."

_Meanwhile in Oblivion..._

Hircine entered the Shivering Isles with the entire Twilight Saga on dvd, "Hey, Sheo! Molag Bal and I are going to watch this crap to see if it truly destroys the concepts of our creations, then probably go kill the author. You- what in the void are you watching?"

Sheogorath had his t. to Aren's life and was watching with a shoe of popcorn in hand, "Antler head needs to watch this! It's funnier than slowly roasting a live garden gnome!"

Hircine looked at the screen for a bit, then pulled out his cell phone and called up Molag. "Dude screw teen angst, lets watch some family drama. Yes, that asshole Aren is involved. Well I don't care if he murdered your precious vampires, one was trying to blot out the sun! Need I remind you that without the sun all life and unlife will perish. Yeah, uh-huh, thought so. See you in a bit."

He hung up and sat down by Sheogorath, taking a handful of shoe-corn. "So, why do you keep sending him cheese."

"Because those are cheddar covered dung beetles you just ate," Sheogorath stated.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Sweet heart, stop pacing. You're going to put a hole in the floor," Syglja said from bed, watching her husband go back and forth like a maniac. "Come to bed, you'll come up with something when you're refreshed, always do."

He ignored her and continued his inner rant; his home was too small for both his parents to stay comfortable. The basement was full of cheese for some strange reason, which would take weeks to haul it out even with a lot of it to be used at the party. He couldn't kick Iona out of her room, especially not with Calder coming over. The living room and the kitchen were both areas of high traffic so that was out. On top of that, neither of them could be in the same room for more than five minutes without swords and spells flying around the house. They each had a plus one as well.

He prayed to every single person involved with his fate for some sort of non-life threatening catastrophe to happen to stop his parents from coming, but the Aedra were attempting to have a drum circle and the only daedra listening were; Sheogorath, Hircine, and a grumpy Molag Bal. Hircine decided to send him a werewolf pup to cheer him up, since none present really wanted to stop this horrible thing from happening. The pup was accompanied by a cheese wheel from good ol' Sheo and promptly landed on Hal's bed. No one would notice till morning.

"What if they come first thing in the morning tomorrow, I have no idea where to put them. It needs to be thought up now or else the second Great War will start right in our own kitchen! I don't need another war, I'll die from stress before anything actually kills me!" He said sounding exasperated, still pacing the width of the bed.

"Sit down, love. Let's talk about this together then, since you're obviously not going to let it go," He obliged her and she sat up next to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Okay, let's think about this; your parents are divorced and can't stand each other right?" He nodded. "Our house is small and full of cheese for gods know what reason, right?" He nodded again. "They're both bringing special friends, right?" Another nod. "Then where can we put them?"

He thought, "Did we close the porch for winter with that spare wood and add like two extra rooms because of it?" She nodded this time. "Then we can stick them in those rooms, they're warm enough."

"See, you just need to clear your head. I think you did the same thing with Vilkas when you two got locked in a burial chamber and couldn't figure out the puzzle. You're not very good in high stress situations, are you?"

He pouted, "I'm very good in stressful situations, I defeated Alduin, ended a civil war, and figured out how to make a sweet roll. That was all before some crazy vampire tried to kill us all and during all the other stupid things people were having me do."

"I wasn't saying that, okay maybe I was, but I meant more..ugh I have no idea how to word this. I'm just saying you get a bit wor-Was that knocking at the door?"

Indeed, there was knocking at the door. The baby spider, who'd been watching from Aren's nightstand, had been desperately trying to point that out them in the form of pointing two of it's eight legs and was now facepalming. It had always thought dogs were the alarms for these bipedal creatures, but the stupid mutt had just slept on the end of the bed with it's tongue lolled out of his mouth. Wait, was it dead? The spider took a closer look and nearly shot out of the bars when the furry thing sprang right up and tried to lick it.

Aren, not expecting any company at this hour as well as being the overly protective-paranoid-man that he was, grabbed his great-sword and cautiously went to the front door. He wished his wife hadn't broken his whole sleeping armor habit, that would've come in handy if it was one of Elenwen's assassins after him with a dagger again. The knocking continued until he slowly creaked open the door and then promptly dropped his sword while turning a rather tomatoey color.

High King Ulfric Stormcloak was at his door looking rather cheerful, which either meant he was happy to see Aren without a shirt on or some poor thalmor agent was being tortured somewhere. Of course our hero was wrong on that account, but might as well keep him uncomfortable. It certainly made Molag happy to see the dragonborn in complete discomfort.

"Hail, Ice-Veins! I didn't expect to be meeting you, especially at some strangers house at three in the morning. What are you doing here? Don't you have a wife and a son?" Ulfric said this in a really happy tone that just was so unnatural to Aren.

Aren regained his composure, "This is my house. I live here with my wife, Syglja and my son Halbjorn, as well as Iona my housecarl for Riften. My I ask why you're at my house, not knowing it's my house despite the fact I put the address on the invitation to the party in two weeks."

The High King looked generally confused and turned around towards the darkened street, "Skadi, you didn't tell me your son was the dragonborn!"

Well, Aren had just about several heart attacks when he saw his blonde haired, robust mother coming towards his house with Calder in tow. She must have stopped in Windhelm to meet up with her old friend and met them to travel with. But, why did it seem like Ulfric traveled with her as a friend to the same place? Why didn't Calder say anything?

"I thought you would have figured since I said my son's name is Aren and he's a half-elf that you met in Helgen," Skadi said in her thick Nord accent with a quick hug to her son before turning back to the High King. "Oh, but you always weren't that observant of subtle clues, now were you, Ulfy."

He couldn't tell if it was when his mother said Ulfy or when they started giggling and kissing, but he was pretty sure he vomited in his own mouth. No matter what age you are, no matter how many things you've seen in this world; your mother kissing anyone is still pretty much icky. It was even more disgusting that she was courting the man who wouldn't have even been in power if it wasn't for his help. He did supply Durnehviir at the battle for Whiterun and the battle of Solitude after all. He worked for this man at any rate and considered them to be somewhat friends, despite Ulfric as well as most everyone else in Windhelm being more racist than a thalmor agent at a nord party.

"Erm, would you to like to come inside and wait while I get one of the guest bedrooms ready," Aren said, trying to get them inside before they did it in his doorstep. "Calder, thank you for being quiet. Iona's in bed if you want to surprise her."

Calder gave a quick nod, trying to hide his glee, and the group came inside. Calder immediately dashed towards Iona's room while Skadi and Ulfric sat at the kitchen table. Aren went to get Syglja to help him pull a room together. Of course, she was snoring when he came to their bedroom as well as the spider. He sighed heavily and made his way to the closed off porch. If there were a medal for turning a storage room into a guest room, well he would have won it that night. Vex, who was still hiding from Brynjolf, had been outside his house listening in to what she thought was some hot, sweaty, passionate exercises going on when she heard the amount of swearing and wood scraping.

When he came back out to the kitchen he saw his mother acting like a drunk ball date, much to his dismay. He had to clear his throat three times before they noticed him, "Your rooms ready. If you don't mind me asking though; why aren't you staying with the Jarl of Riften? I'm sure there's much more room there."

"I had my heart set on seeing you," Skadi said, standing up to pinch his cheeks. "Besides, Ulfy said her one son was annoying anyway."

Aren grumbled something that would have made the most hardened criminal slap him as he ushered them to the makeshift guest room. He said goodnight and left them attempting to do some weird things they learned in The Kama Sutra that he really did not need to witness. He finally crawled into his bed next to his wife, trying to block out the sounds that weren't savory at all. He literally slept about four hours before his wife's screaming woke him up.

_Back in Oblivion..._

_"Mommy, look! I wished for a baby brother and I gots one!"_ Little Hal could be heard saying happily to his mother from the television. He was hugging the little werewolf, who in turn, was licking him. Syglja was only screaming.

Hircine was laughing, "Aw, I'm glad the boy decided to take him in. Little guy was orphaned yesterday and I didn't want to leave him in the snow. I was half expecting the poor thing to be kicked out into the lake."

"Hmm, the mother doesn't seem to keen on it. But, that golden boy of Serena's would take him in. Damn goody two shoes gotta mess up everything bad and evil in the world with his kindness," Molag grumbled, pouting and with his arms folded across his chest.

Suddenly; Meridia, Azura, and Nocturnal entered the t.v. room. Meridia was holding Hircine's college sweatshirt in her arms with a rather nervous expression on her face. Nocturnal just looked annoyed while Azura was trying to encourage Meridia to say something. The boys were so absorbed in Aren's life they didn't notice until Sheo dropped his shoe and went to pick it up.

"Oh look, girls!" He said, delighted. "Just what this game needed!"

The other two looked over, "Hey, you've brought my sweatshirt back! It's only been seven hundred years."

"Sorry, I was trying to get the smell and the blood stains out which took longer than anticipated. I finally had to switch from the generic Walmart brand to Tide..." Meridia babbled before being pushed over onto Hircine's lap by a peeved Nocturnal.

"Just make out already!" She growled.

Azura tried to change the subject, "What're you guys watching?"

The attention turned back to the screen and after a few moments of thought, the girls decided to stay. "It's better than trying to keep a bunch of thieves in line." Nocturnal stated, stealing Sheogorath's popcorn.

"You realize you just ate cheddar covered dung beetles?" Hircine grimanced.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

There was an ice storm raging outside and that meant the master bed had become a tad overcrowded. Hal and the werewolf pup, who they named Jon, were curled up between their two parents while Vigilance slept at the end. Every now and then there'd be a crash from a falling tree or a flying bucket that would send both children to cling to him, not their mother, him. By the time midnight bells rang, both of his children were laying on top of him haphazardly. Sleeping with heavy armor on had trained him to be accustomed to a lot of weight on him in the night, but this was ridiculous. He couldn't move either, since waking them up would only further his misery.

By the time morning rolled around, his back ached and his ribs felt like a hammer had been taken to them. He really didn't want to move, so he hoped people would just let him sleep in. That wouldn't be the case, his mother was one of those annoying morning people that always woke everyone up. You'd think that after a week of her being here he'd at least remember that. It was barely five minutes after his wife left the bed that his mother came in with a happy, booming voice, "Good morning, lazy bones! It's time to get out of bed and seize the day!"

"No," He pulled the covers over his head as he had when he was a teenager. "Five more minutes."

She laughed, "You're going to make me get some fresh fallen snow to put on your back, aren't you?"

"Ma, I am a grown man. You can't do tha-EEYAAA!" She'd already retrieved some snow in a mug before she came to wake him. The result of pouring it on him was this; he literally jumped three feet into the air, landed on the floor face first, and Justice's cage fell off the nightstand only to land on his head.

Everyone in the house rushed to see what had happened, much to his embarrassment. His mother was only laughing; "I hope your children give you as much trouble as you do to me."

"Honey, are you okay?" Syglja ran over to help him up.

"My pride feels like a giant stepped on it and my body only felt this bad after I was on the receiving end of an orcish mace," He informed her, getting up. He then addressed his mother, "My children do not give me trouble."

_Flashbacks to prove Aren wrong;_

Hal screaming at the top of his lungs in the middle of Jorvaskr while Aren tried to drag him away from the weapons rack.

Aren turning an unnatural shade of red as Hal asks why a red guard has brown skin.

Embarrassing meeting with an older girls parents about why Hal had punched her in the stomach.

Most recently, both parents having to bribe city guards after Jon had chewed many of the stalls in the market place.

_End flashbacks..._

He glared at the crowd that was standing outside the door, "Unless you all enjoy seeing me in my breechcloths than I suggest you leave."

Everyone nodded in embarrassment and left mumbling something to each other, except for Hal and Jon. Syglja and his mother left as well, his mother with a triumphant smirk on her face. His two sons (Sorry this hasn't been mentioned, but they just consider Jon a son since Hal already referred to him as a brother.) were still staring at him with expectant, smiling faces. He just ignored them in the hopes that whatever they wanted would be forgotten and they would leave. His hopes were dashed after he finished getting dressed and still saw them standing there.

He let out a sigh, "Can I help you two?"

"Well, we want to get deer," Hal said in his best adorable tone. Jon gave him big puppy dog eyes and woofed in agreement.

Aren thought, well he wouldn't have to deal with his mother nor the constant questions about if he knew the plans of the Thalmor form Ulfric, Calder and Iona would be probably get a little more time together if they weren't constantly wondering if he needed anything. Plus, Syglja had hinted he would need to get out of the house so she could do some more decorating. The boys really seemed to want to go hunting too.

"Alright, let me grab our bows and arrows. Tell your mother we'll be gone for the day and to make sure Vigilance doesn't break the tree," He said with a soft smile. The boys ran off in excitement to do the things he asked.

He picked up the spider and put it back on the nightstand before making his way over to the weapons rack to get the big quiver of iron arrows and his dwarven long bow as well as the short bow he'd given to Hal. Werewolves don't need bows to hunt, obviously, so he slung everything over his shoulder as well as his knapsack before heading out of the room to give his wife a kiss good bye. For the first time to day, he smiled. Despite the fact his body still ached and he was pretty sure he'd need to see a priest of Mara about his back.

Just outside of Riften, near Shor's Stone, there is a great spot to hunt that usually is free of bandits. In fact, that was where he proposed to his wife three years ago. He'd been out hunting after defeating Alduin in Sovngarde, trying to get his mind off the battle since everyone else just seemed to want to talk about it. He'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed how close he' wondered to the small mining town until he heard his name being called by the sweetest sounding voice that he remembered. The nice little miner with short brown hair who'd broken her leg the first time he'd come through! The one who'd asked him to deliver a letter to her family in another town (which he had a strange dream afterword about doing that same quest accept in a place called Capital Wasteland and he was human with a strange magical weapon) and he sort of grudgingly accepted. He'd been tired and bloody from a frostbite spider battle in the mine, what do you expect?

She looked so happy to see him that day and ran right over to him with a huge smile. His heart was warmed by that jovial smile, which helped him complete his personal mission. Then he did something he really never did, he picked her up in a bear hug and spun her around. When he set her down she told him she'd been worried about him since she had heard from a guard he'd been seen flying off with a dragon. She then thanked him again for delivering the letters to her father when her leg had been healing. He told her that it hadn't been much trouble, cliche, cliche, cliche. After a while of idle conversation, she noticed his amulet of Mara that he'd been wearing since his first visit to Riften in hopes of finding someone. It hadn't worked out in his favor since he was a half altmer in a land of nords, until now. They went through the ritual of asking if they were interested in each other and a day later they were married.

He explained all this to Hal and Jon after three hours of trying to catch a deer. Hal was definitely not cut out to wield a bow and poor Jon had lost his blood father before he could teach him anything about hunting. Aren was the only one to successfully kill one of the beasts and even that shot would have made a fellow archer, namely Aela, cringe. He hadn't pulled the string back far enough and it wound up some how banking off a tree into the deer's heart. Hircine must have had something to do with that shot.

They'd decided to warm up by a fire Aren had started in an area that didn't have as much snow. The two boys ate the lunch their mother had made for them while Aren skinned and gutted the deer. He told stories to them, like how he met their mother, just to keep them from running off after every little sound so they could redeem themselves. When they were finished with their meals he put out the fire and brought them back to the area to see if they could bag anything else. Unfortunately, all the game was scared off by three loud _thalmor agents?_

He tried to lead the boys away quietly, but Hal had chosen that exact moment to sneeze as loud as a dragon's roar. Being the great father that he was, instead of hurrying along, he bent over with a hanky to wipe his son's snot covered face. By the time he was done, Jon was quaking behind him as three shadows loomed over them. He stood up while pushing Hal back behind him with Jon. It wasn't hard for him to stand up to a thalmor since they'd hurt so many innocent people and gave anyone with even a hint of altmer blood a bad name. But, these three caused the dovahkiin a pause.

Standing in front of him was Elenwen, a rather ruthless woman who he'd given every reason to hate him. Her sister, whose name he didn't know but assumed was just as bad as her. The last one just made him think fate was trying to kill him prematurely; it was his father, Teran'is, the person he'd been terrified of since he'd come to Skyrim.

_Meanwhile in Oblivion..._

"Why do you think the author just threw in random tidbits of information on our protagonist in this chapter?" Sheogorath asked, poking Nocturnal with string cheese.

"No one knows what you're talking about, nutcase," Molag Bal snapped, unhappy with that the goody two shoes Meridia was sitting next to him.

Speaking of who, she glared at him, "Don't yell at him, he's a nice person!"

Everyone just rolled their eyes, those two argued more than politicians. Oh, Sheo would just like all the readers to know that the Daedric Princes have nothing to do with any government on Earth, even the United States. Anyway, Azura and Hircine decided to duct tape Molag's mouth since he was the only one being a negative nancy.

"No one answered my question?" Sheo complained loudly.

Hircine sighed and made something up, "Because it contains the instructions to build your own Benedict Cumberbatch robot."

Not really.

"The author just told me you're lying," Sheo pouted.


End file.
